Wishfulness

Check out the new video for Wishfulness (available on itunes and at every major retailer in the USA) produced by WWAP's own Randy Ziady-Huling or as we like to call him Random Ran. Ran recently graduated from the Art Institute of California in San Francisco with a degree in Media Arts and Animation so if you or anyone you know is in need of some graphics I recommend contacting him through his website which is www.randomran.com.

Randy has been painting (legally and illegally) for about 20 years and has always impressed me with his talent to create characters. Its been a common scene at our rehearsals for Randy to sketch something in 5 minutes and throw it in the trash only to have me take it out of the garbage and frame it when i get home.

As our stage show has progressed we have integrated some live painting into our set starting with me drawing a big boobied stick figure and the outline of a house. It looks extremely juvenile. Like Mighty Mouse sans cape Ran hops in to save the day and turns the stick figure into a magical angel and the shack into a castle. Mind you, he does this while maintaining his regular DJ responsibilites.

On a side note I have to add that Randy and I have been performing for over 10 years together (dive bars) and he is the first person to ever actually hear me rap (I was very shaky). We studied acting together at the illustrious Santa Rosa Junior College and earned a reputation as tardy yet talented (in our own minds) performers. Randy starred in the epic hip hop play Stand Up Tragedy with the homies from High Intent and delivered a stellar performance in the lead role. He also did the artwork for my cd Capsule Effects and his cover has always gotten plenty of compliments. I tell you this so you can see how multi faceted our DJ is and because Topher and I try to hog all the attention...ok well I guess its actually me that does that so...yah...there ya go.

Oh and by the way...always remember what Wishfulness tells us..."often the best episodes are not sitcoms or cancelled shows but passed on pilots that corrode on dusty shelves of dreamers bold".

-David Downey, Jr.

Shutting Eyes

I have wanted to write this piece for a long time but for some reason today was the day. The sun hit me in the face this morning and...what can I say. I have wanted to give all you beautiful people a free download of Shutting Eyes (also available on itunes and CdBaby) and dedicate it to all the forward thinkers out there with a big shout out to Pinchbeck and Knowles. So here you go...(SHUTTING EYES FREE DOWNLOAD) Enjoy!!!

My favorite subjects can usually be found in the New Age/Metaphysics section of any book store. Over the years I have read and watched some pretty awesome things. I have also encountered some totally outrageous perspectives. Two of my favorite authors that are currently offering their information are Christopher Knowles and Daniel Pinchbeck. Each has dedicated themself to their respective subject matters and made a huge difference in my life. I also truly appreciate the sacrifices that many other researchers all over the world are making in attempts to both figure out our universe and help us in it.

When I wrote the song Shutting Eyes, I had been reading Pinchbeck's Evolver and Knowle's blog The Secret Sun, drawing inspiration from both.

As we approach 2012 we are being bombarded with conspiracy theories, ancient predictions and fringe science. It seems as if every day there is a new discovery of a planet, sighting of a UFO or birds mysteriously falling out of the sky. Here in Oakland we experienced a record high temperature recently and then this weekend had a record low. All over the world the weather seems to be acting strangely. Is it the response of a too long neglected Earth? The coming of Nibiru? A pole shift?

It could be that maybe Earth HAS reached its tolerable limit and The Annunaki ARE hurtling towards us on Planet-X bent on enslaving humanity (with the help of the Bushes, Windsors and Freemasons), and maybe the Earth's crust IS about to shift turning north to south, sending us all into a primal panic as buildings, mountains and societies collapse.

Some believe that we shall experience a shift on the vibrational level. This shift could potentially result in a greater understanding of our planet, universe, ourselves and each other. After all, they are all the same thing.

I am a fan of that particular thought process and what I have come to learn is that every single thing we do matters. Every thank you, every fuck you, every love you and every hate you. Somewhere on the vibrational level--EVERY SINGLE THING MATTERS!!!

What does this mean? It means that our thoughts and actions should be positive and aimed at helping ourselves, others, the planet and the universe. By doing this the world that we create through our vibrations becomes not only easier to live in but potentially a perfect manifestation of our own fantastic haven.

The way I think of it is that the coming shifts are like a boat. The boat is leaving the dock and that is a definite. All people are welcome on the boat. The thing is though, you have to be open minded. Those that cling to the past will be left on the shores. We are all going to get soaked so its just a matter of riding the wave or rebuilding sand houses.

Not every self-conversing, filthy homeless guy is a woebegone time traveler lost and stuck in the wrong universe. But some are!

Here are the lyrics to Shutting Eyes. I am putting them on here because I am egotistical I guess. Why else do people publish lyrics? Maybe you can print em and make a cd booklet to go with your free download of the song. I'd be impressed if you did. Honored too. Well thanks for reading and see ya when we're all levitating.

Shutting Eyes, The Friday Morning EP

Catapult me to another continent with no

parachute or jet pack to spirit me on home

just leave the instructions from the birds

those sacred words

that were handed through the ages and that some had thought absurd

the codes are making sense and

to comprehend the dense plans

leaves you with the power to take flight but with your own hands

no wings are necessary

no engine filled with oil slick

no laws of physics could explain the magic or the trick

send me into deep space out into the clouds so

I could fly so high its only where the highest birds go

aviation secrets that the elders were protecting

every human able to transform into a zeppelin

satellites and planets in our grasp like climbing trees

and to grab the stars perhaps would be like touching falling leaves

unleash me to the forest in a trail thats overgrown

and is yearning to be tread again to take travelers home.

Tumbling down the rabbit hole

facing your true naked soul

feelings that we can't control

turning our warm bodies cold

Shutting Eyes

Shutting Eyes

One day this universe will become obsolete

sweet technicolor sights make the present tense complete

weightless from responsiblity and gravity

stars and shooting stars inside visions vividly

filling up the files of the mind across the seas

of the concsious and unconcious now replaced by galaxies

letting go, reaching out, shutting eyes, shutting eyes

in the know, for the show, Shutting Eyes, Shutting Eyes

in the flow, so we go Shutting Eyes, Shutting Eyes

Aim to leave the atmosphere

head towards a new hemisphere

criss cross the equator lines just to throw off any tracks

once your gone no coming back

floating out to some nowhere

aspire to be aware

follow the natural signs

mind is mind and fact is fact

Shutting Eyes exhale relax

Visualize the options here

everything is now so clear

reaching that enlightened mind

constantly in constellations

synchronizing situations

living on a different time

losing every sense of fear

seeing things as they appear

yet knowing their true equation

Shutting Eyes feel elation

-David Downey Jr.

Shanti Knapp

One needs a team of people to make a creative project successful; it helps when those helping are creative themselves.

-A. Wiseman

Shanti Knapp is someone I have gotten to know through the years and over the past couple, witnessed him transform from a photographer in the beginner stages to a bad ass visionary mastermind. Shanti is someone who expresses the innermost reachings of his soul through his photography so we collectively decided that his captures would best represent our first album The Friday Morning EP. (as far as I'm concerned, baring your soul is what its all about if you are a true artist!) We are lucky to have Shanti as part of the WWAP family and look forward to future creations, collaborations and frankensteins.

Shanti has also taken photos at various shows of Woke With A Plan, David Downey and The Drugs and many other local and big name acts. We have long been planning a WWAP photo shoot that should soon come to fruition and we recently completed a quick promotional shoot for David Downey Jr.'s Phineas Larynx project.

Shanti recently participated in an exhibit at The Sonoma Arts Council in Santa Rosa. As part of our ongoing work he asked me to write his biography for the show. It was an honor to do so and of course we had to go for something non-traditional. Here it is in its entirety so now you MUST CLICK YOUR MOUSE and travel over to Shanti's website. See the visuals that inspired the words...and oh yah...hire the dude.

For Shanti Knapp at The Sonoma Arts Council 2010

It's right there in front of us only we don't see it unless we look or if we really need it--it appears. Bees on flowers, eyes yearning, forgotten graffiti, music, faces, friends, performers, inspired by mom, hearts and guitars, hands grasping, worlds calling, feet follow, lost in thoughts, what are you thinking?, not much, passage of time, crumbled metropolis, hope through hopelessness, heard once that desert peoples can see for miles, no cities to obstruct the vision, eyes adjust, ready, aim, focus...

a slight wrinkle at the edge of spectacles

entangled in tentacles

of auras and vibrance

it's tough to deny this

right outside your eyelids

so mundane '9 to '5's become less inspired

good times shooting pool shooting the breeze riding the breeze seeing where it goes and capturing it along the way.

i swear i am telling you right now that THIS is what i have to give you

no more

and no less

so

take it

Hi, My name is _____ and I AM AN ARTIST!

-David Downey, Jr.

Hands Up Remix

We are pleased to share this disgustingly sick remix of Hands Up from our friend Judson De La Wickham aka Canyon Rivers aka Deadkidsyntax (like I said previously, you are not a real indie artist unless you have multiple aliases and projects going simultaneously). This song is an excellent remix, one because its slamming and two because it puts a totally new spin on the lyrics. Jud is an accomplished madman of a producer based out of LA and also a longtime friend of WWAP DJ/Live Painter-Random Ran. Do yourself a favor and click on the links so your ears can feel what your eyes are reading.

Thanks to Jud for doing this song and we look forward to more collaborations in the future as David Downey, Jr. is an absolute beat fiend. Until then you can download Hands Up (Deadkidsyntax Remix) for FREE!!!

and remember...EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU SHOULD PUNCH YOUR BOSS AND MURDER YOUR JOB TOO!

-David Downey, Jr.

Mr Dark Keys spotted in Sausalito!

Woke With A Plan beatmaker, producer and ASR-10 aficionado Topher M. Lewis recently had one of his compositions used as the opening music for The Sausalito Film Festival. The song Cognitive Miser was originally released in 2002 on the album Broken Record. Now we all know that you are not a "real" indie musician unless you have multiple aliases, groups and projects going simultaneously. Staying true to that meme, Lewis has used the moniker Mr Dark Keys for years and has a treasure trove of soon to be released instrumentals guaranteed to leave you spellbound. Be sure to follow Mr Dark Keys on myspace and facebook and of course remember to follow his alter ego Topher M. Lewis in Woke With A Plan. I promise, your ears (and breasts) will thank you.

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour is rolling through San Francisco and Woke With A Plan is happy to announce our participation in support of Abadawn, Sarx and Name The Uncanny. We recently performed on the same bill as Abadawn at Club Six and let me just say that it is not often you get to witness a skilled rapper rock his set then go into a cover of "Closer" by NIN. Pretty sick, you don't want to miss it so come on out and support this tour. These guys are driving down from the Seattle/Portland area and on their way to LA so lets pack the house. Gas is expensive!

Local Chip-Hop masterminds A_Rival will also be rocking the room so prepare for the house to be brought down. If you haven't heard of these guys you need check out their 8-bit remake of Nuthin' But A G-Thang and see how talented this crew is. Internationally acclaimed B-Boy Jimmy Hits is the DJ for A_Rival so look for him to flex his skills on both the tables and the floor.

We will be doing "our usual unusual" with a few new wrinkles to the set and the song arrangement. One of our newer pieces is live painting where David Downey, Jr. scribbles some doodles and Randy Ziady Huling spends the rest of the set turning it into a thing of beauty while all along Topher Lewis orchestrates the symphony like a brain surgeon lobotomizing and re-animating unknowing patients. Mannequin heads, TV's tuned to strangeness, illumination and other theatrics are guaranteed! On a side note, WWAP frontman David Downey, Jr. is planning a temporary move to Boston so this may be your last chance to see us for a bit. Come on out, have a beer, reminisce, be entertained and let loose. We will actually be removing our beating hearts and leaving them on stage during the show so this will be monumental!

Live DJ sets by Jimmy Hits, Prefix and WWAP's own Random Ran!

Tuesday 9/14/2010 406 Clement St San Francisco 9PM $8 21+

-David Downey, Jr.

The Dark Room at Club Six

Woke With A Plan will be performing this Friday July 23rd inside of The Dark Room at Club Six.

Menno-P will be starting things off and if you haven't heard of this San Fran MC then you have to check out his fresh video with the crazy looking monkeys from the 50's on bikes. Its like a warped sci-fi version of the Dennis The Menace show with some ill hip hop behind it. You can check out "Eyewitness" right here.

After Woke With A Plan manipulates time and creates an alternate universe through TV, antique clocks and possessed heads, we will return you to the present tense for local bay area legend--Dublin.

Dublin has been rocking mics and representing SF for years earning the respect of every person that has had a chance to see him live. Dublin just returned from an East Coast tour with the illustrious Brass, Bows and Beats symphony so now is your time to see this cat locally before he blows up internationally and you have to pay double the ticket price to scalpers. You might have also heard of him from the Jazz Mafia, Shotgun Wedding Quintet or his newest release Ease The Pain.

Next up we have Abadawn from Camobear Records. Abadawn is on tour from Portland OR and has a reputation for putting on an energetic and LIVE live show. I hadn't heard of Abadawn before this gig was booked but checking out his myspace and hearing the song Greasy Burr made me an instant fan. I think I played that song like 20 times so when its played live I'll be that dude in the front row bugging out and repeating the lyrics.

We also want to thank Dave Blank aka Dark Alley Ethics and Level for putting on this show and giving us all an opportunity to gig. This is one of the best lineups I have ever had the pleasure of being associated with so please show your support for Woke With A Plan and these other acts. We promise to leave blood, guts, brains, hearts and other organs on the stage steaming from their fresh removal...but no tears. (rappers don't cry)


Hope to see you this Friday July 23rd at Club Six. 60 6th St. SF 9PM

-David Downey, Jr.

We are...

decrepit statues, broken relationships, dreams of flying, alien visions, psychotic multiple personalities, bird communication, rusty playgrounds with steep metal slides, words of vitriol, misguided energy, dreams deferred, marijuana, dolphins rescuing humans, insight of spiders, job disillusionment, untranslatable instructions, forced hypnotism, insane neighbors, passive aggressiveness, aggressive aggressiveness, complicated interactions, not holding back, absolute power without corruption, rock proof glass houses, early bird worm hoarders, silent objections, mental assassinations, undiscovered planets, squeaky swingsets, dusty nooks, painstaking detail, franklin mint manufactured plates of unknown heroes, bounced checks, climbing trees and hiding, hearts torn out, roadkill reanimated, the secret sauce, workplace sabotage, calling in sick, going in sick, driving recklessly, walking carefully, shooting your mouth off, excess, ambience, creation, transference of energy, ancient thought patterns, the superconsciousness, the ability to fly, your first forgotten dream, your first remembered nightmare, what you wanted to be as a kid, who you are as an adult.

-David Downey, Jr.

All Over A Girl

Woke With A Plan recently performed at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland which is a dope spot if you have not checked it out. Its a coffee shop that has good beer on tap, an outdoor patio in the back where you can smoke and the staff is cool as shit. Martin Sole and Alice Hejna started up the night up with soulful sets of folk rock before WWAP dimmed the lights only to illuminate briefcases and alien heads while some 70's sci-fi movie with Charlton Heston lived on in our TV set. We will never tell what the movie was or if the aliens head was returned to its body and planet...

You will just have to come on out to the next show and see what is in store.

Until then here is a free download of the song All Over A Girl(Live @ Mama Buzz)

-David Downey, Jr.

Woke With A Plan Live at Mama Buzz

Woke With A Plan will be performing this Wednesday, March 31st at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland. Also on the bill is folk/rock singer Alice Hejna who has been touring the west coast from Paris, France and local SF folk/soul singer Martin Sole. This is an early gig, starting at 6 and ending at 9 so you can check us out for a cheap $5 bucks and still be able to get a good nights sleep in preparation for April's Fool's jokes.

On a side note, David Downey Jr and The Drugs rocked the House of Shields in SF on the 26th. Costume changes, glowing mannequin heads and pure unfiltered energy made the set incredibly unique and it will only get crazier as this was the groups debut. Derailed Freight Train injected ambient flavor with his electric guitar and Random Ran owned the tables while David Downey, Jr. jumped around like a madman covered in ants ranting lyrical poetry. Pictures will be available soon.

We hope to see you this Wednesday at Mama Buzz!!! Be there...

-David Downey, Jr.

Woke With A Plan at Jasper O'Farrells

Woke With A Plan will be performing songs from The Friday Morning EP on Saturday January 30th at Jasper O'Farrells in Sebastopol.




-David Downey, Jr.

The Violent Kind

Happy New Years from Woke With A Plan! It was a busy December for WWAP as we focused on recording two new songs for the upcoming indie film The Violent Kind, which is scheduled to premier at The Sundance Film Festival. We hope you enjoy this free download of the first song Heads Up


-David Downey, Jr.

Don't Walk video by Woke With A Plan members...

Woke With A Plan is proud to share this video for the song Don't Walk by David Downey, Jr. This song was the closing track off of Downey's 2005 release Legend of the Son, recorded under the psuedonym "JFK" with Ziady-Huling producing the beat and animating the video. This video started as a school project, ended up falling by the wayside for a couple of years and after much deliberation and consideration we decided to bring it to you in its rawest form.

-David Downey, Jr.